Find Vital Records Instantly!

First Name

Last Name *

State

Record Type:
Birth
Death
Marriage
Divorce
All Vital Records

Rutherford Family History | Find Genealogy Records & Family Crest

Rutherford Genealogy & History

Rutherford is a Scottish name from the borderlands, where their Roxburghshire feudal estate was called the lands of Rutherford. Rutherford is derived from Old English hryther and forder, meaning cattle crossing, with spelling variations Riddiford, Rotherforth, Ruddiforth, Rudford, and Rutterford. English branches in Rutherford genealogy are from Northern England, or perhaps from a North Yorkshire medieval village Ruddiford. The family motto nec sorte nec fato means neither by chance nor destiny, and Rutherford family history includes knights Gregory and Nicholas de Rutherford. English Nobel Prize winner Sir Ernest Rutherford is known as the father of nuclear physics; Richard Rutherford was the first American immigrant in 1636 in Virginia.